Atiku Group: Electronic Transfer of Elections Possible

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

A group, Atiku Support Organisation (ASO), has said a real-time electronic transmission of election results is 100 per cent possible in Nigeria, contrary to the position of the “transparent election-phobic All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Senate”.

The group canvassed the argument in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. El Mo Victor.

In the statement titled, ‘With a 98 percent tele-density rate and over 80 percent MTN Nigeria 3G broadband coverage, real-time e-transmission of election results is 100 percent possible’, the group claimed that the data from the National Communications Commission (NCC) website contradicts the ‘outdated’ information presented by the NCC head of technical team to the House of Representatives.

It stated that: “the current figure, which the NCC technical team mischievously conceals to mislead Nigerians shows that the tele-density rate in Nigeria as of May 2021 is 98 per cent.

“For every 100 inhabitants in an area, at least one person is actively connected to a network through a mobile phone or other devices, thus proving the presence of a network service.

“It may display either of the following alphanumeric characters like 2G (GPRS), E (EDGE), 3G, H, H+, 4G/LTE among others enough to access the internet.

“In the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, which was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Communication Minister, Dr. Isa Pantami, on March 10, 2020, the NCC stated on page 16 of the document that Nigeria has achieved 74 per cent 3G coverage of the entire country as of March 2020.

“This is contrary to the outdated 50 per cent misleading figure presented by the NCC and some Nigerian senators, including Senator Ali Ndume and others, who see electoral transparency as a threat.

“It is also revealing to note that on June 7, 2021, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, during their annual general meeting, stated that the company had achieved 80.4 per cent 3G broadband coverage of Nigeria in 2020.

“This is aside from the Globacom Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, and Etisalat Nigeria 3G network coverage of areas not covered by MTN or other competing network providers.”

Toriola, according to the group in the statement had said: “We are proud to announce that our network has now achieved 89 per cent nationwide coverage, while our 3G and 4G expansions attained 80.4 per cent and 60.1 per cent population coverage respectively in 2020.”

“This will enhance transparency and integrity, increase voter confidence, strengthen democracy, and save the lives of our Corps members, policemen, and INEC staff, who are routinely being killed in every election season.

“We, therefore, encourage the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assert its independence and uphold resolutely the supreme provision of section 78 and 3rd Schedule, Part 1, F, S.15 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.”

ASO urged the Dr. Ahmad Lawan-led Nigerian Senate “to rise above pettiness and not make itself an enemy of progress.”